Kasen completely ignored the blazing flames burning around him.
He quickly pulled out a Thaumcraft alchemical crucible, dumping a massive amount of essentia into it. With a loud bang, it exploded and tore open a pitch-black corruption rift.
"Come on! Let's go in together!" Kasen, still wrapped in the flames that Voldemort had become, strode straight toward the rift.
"You madman!" Seeing this, Voldemort instantly reverted to human form and tried to get away from Kasen.
But Kasen grabbed his arm and forcefully dragged him toward the corruption rift.
"Let go of me!" Voldemort roared. He slammed a hand against the stasis field, and in the next instant his hand was firmly stuck to it.
"Then I'll just tear you in half and throw you in." Kasen gripped Voldemort's other arm and was about to exert force to rip him off when Voldemort suddenly opened his mouth.
Blood-red flames burst out, shooting straight toward Kasen.
Fortunately, the Thaumonomicon appeared in front of Kasen in an instant, blocking the attack… but it only protected his face. The suddenly unleashed Fiendfyre still scorched most of his chest.
It wasn't completely useless, though. At the very least, Kasen reflexively loosened his grip, giving Voldemort the chance to summon his fallen wand back into his hand.
Another Avada Kedavra burst from his wand. This time, Kasen didn't bother to block it.
Instead, using his monocle, he extracted the death element contained within the Killing Curse, condensed it into Thaumcraft's death aspect, and hurled it right back at Voldemort.
After all, Voldemort was now a completely immobile target.
The death aspect from Thaumcraft was probably purer than the death element in Avada Kedavra. It almost instantly pierced through the Killing Curse and flew straight toward Voldemort.
And the Voldemort who had been unable to move… moved?
He directly used magic to sever his own wrist and swiftly dodged the attack.
"You're a complete madman! Aren't you going to deal with that thing behind you? It's getting bigger and bigger!" Voldemort roared.
"No need to worry. Once I die, that thing will naturally disappear. But logically speaking, you should die much faster than I will!" Kasen said as he charged at Voldemort once again.
"Damn lunatic, lunatic, lunatic!" Voldemort cursed while darting around inside the stasis field. At the same time, he kept unleashing all kinds of powerful spells to block Kasen's pursuit, while also trying to figure out how to stop the wildly expanding corruption rift.
Outside the stasis field, the Death Eaters watched their master being chased around inside a white barrier by a seemingly ordinary Hogwarts professor like a dog.
Their feelings were… complicated.
Still, a small number of extremely fanatical Death Eaters were trying all sorts of strange and unusual spells in an attempt to break through the stasis field.
"Strictly speaking, this belongs to time magic. What you're doing is merely a waste of effort," an old, deep voice sounded from behind them.
The moment Barty Crouch Jr. heard the voice, he spun around instantly. A silent Killing Curse shot toward Dumbledore.
Standing beside Dumbledore, Grindelwald merely tilted his head casually. The Killing Curse was deflected, flying off toward an unfortunate Death Eater and taking his life.
"Dumbledore! Grindelwald! Are you sure you want to fight us here? Even if you manage to kill all of us, that precious professor of yours probably won't be far from death either," Barty Crouch Jr. said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
"It wouldn't take five minutes to kill you," Grindelwald said coldly.
"The pitch-black rift inside won't need five minutes to kill Kasenhis either. Think it through!" Barty Crouch Jr. said, looking at the corruption rift inside the stasis field as it grew more and more terrifying.
"I want you to leave right now. Don't appear in front of me."
"I also want you to save our master! Either they both live, or they both die!" Barty Crouch Jr. roared.
"You are not in a position to negotiate with us," Dumbledore said in a deep voice.
"Neither are you." Barty Crouch Jr. directly lowered his wand and extended an arm, intending to form an Unbreakable Vow with Dumbledore.
"Just this once." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. In truth, they had not come here with much desire to kill Voldemort, especially now that he already knew Voldemort possessed more than one Horcrux.
So when it came to choosing between Kasenhis dying permanently and Voldemort merely losing a physical body he could easily resurrect from, he still favored protecting Kasenhis, even if it meant protecting Voldemort as well…
After all, good things could wait. Killing Voldemort didn't have to happen right now. If every time Voldemort was killed it required the sacrifice of a professor…
Then it would be better to let him run wild for a little longer, until all of Voldemort's methods were completely destroyed.
Or to put it more bluntly, the innocent people Voldemort had killed were far less important to the world than Kasenhis.
As a Gryffindor, he could still do this kind of math. It wasn't like he was a Hufflepuff.
Thinking this, he extended his hand and shook Barty Crouch Jr.'s.
"After you break this so-called stasis field, I need you and Grindelwald not to attack my master, not to attack my companions, and to restrain Kasenhis as well. He must be bound by the same restrictions as you. And these restrictions will be lifted after midnight tonight!" Seeing Dumbledore agree, Barty Crouch Jr. immediately pressed his advantage, acting extremely humble and not daring to play the slightest trick.
"Barty, you traitor!" Bellatrix had originally thought Barty was setting a trap for Dumbledore and the others, which was why she had kept silent. But seeing him act so obedient now, she immediately cursed.
"Shut up, you crazy woman! Are you blind?" Barty shouted back at Bellatrix.
And in the instant he shouted, the contract was formed.
Dumbledore released his hand and casually waved his wand. A red beam of light flew toward the stasis field. It was quickly captured by the field and then froze there.
"Hmm… something related to time." Dumbledore muttered.
"So.. you don't have a way to—" Barty started speaking but Dumbledore cut him off.
"Of course, I have a way, I'm Dumbledore." Dumbledore simply took out a Time-Turner, twisted its dial and winding mechanism, and finally tossed it toward the stasis field.
Bang!
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